


every time we shine

by aprilflower (demonglass)



Category: ITZY (Band)
Genre: Based on a Taylor Swift Song, Confessions, Crushes, F/F, Fluff, Hair Dyeing, Non-Idolverse, Sharing a Bed, Sleepovers, Weddings, blink and you'll miss it angst, fellas is it gay to look at ur homie like she hung the stars in the sky, hopefully just all around warm feelings!, minor nahyuck & miyoo, various other female idol cameos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2020-06-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:08:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24578791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/demonglass/pseuds/aprilflower
Summary: Yeji falls for Ryujin over and over again. With a little time, Ryujin falls right back.
Relationships: Hwang Yeji/Shin Ryujin
Comments: 25
Kudos: 116
Collections: Girl Group Jukebox (Round 2)





	every time we shine

**Author's Note:**

> Written for GG Jukebox Round 2, inspired by Jump Then Fall by Taylor Swift!!

Yeji is still half asleep, eyes squinting blearily at the ceiling as she tries to reanimate herself like bringing a mummy back to life. She’s got her phone laying on the pillow next to her ear, listening to the sound of rain _ting_ -ing against her window on one side, and the sound of Ryujin’s voice on the other. It’s far too early to sound as chipper as Ryujin does - her words bright in contrast to the gray drizzle outside - but when Yeji mumbles this through the phone, Ryujin just laughs. 

And Yeji’d had something else to say too, but at the sound of Ryujin’s laughter, her brain goes fuzzy. Ryujin speaks and Yeji hears her voice, but not the words, because Ryujin’s laugh is still ringing in her ears like the echoes of chiming bells.

Yeji needs a moment to collect herself after that.

When her brain is back to functioning at a normal-for-nine-am-on-a-Saturday level, she tunes back into what Ryujin is saying - something about how she’s going to try to be a morning person from now on because her sunrise hike before the rain started might have changed her life - and Yeji realizes without warning that the sound of Ryujin’s voice laced with laughter is the best sound she’s ever heard. 

_Well, then._

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Friday afternoon near the end of spring, Yeji is sitting in the grass on the town common, where she and her friends form a lopsided circle. Yuna is laying on her stomach to Yeji’s right, chin propped up on her palm as she flips absently through a book she’d just checked out from the library. To Yeji’s left, Chaeryeong sits cross-legged with her phone on one knee and a white cheddar cheez-it pack on the other. 

Across from Yeji are Jisu and Ryujin. Jisu’s knees are folded to her chest, her chin placed in the dip between them, and she’s like a mirror of Yeji. This sort of thing - the mirroring - happens regularly, entirely without planning. Jisu says it’s because they’ve known each other for so long that their brains have connected, Yeji thinks it’s more of a _monkey see, monkey unconsciously do_ thing, but who is she to rain on her best friend’s parade?

And then there’s Ryujin. She’s got her legs kicked out in front of her, arms behind her, palms pressed into the grass as she leans back on her hands. It’s unfair, really, how she looks like she’s modelling for _Vogue_ even though she’s not doing anything special. Maybe it’s because the sun is shining down on her _just_ right. Her eyes sparkle, her skin glows, her dark hair looks impossibly glossy. She’s beautiful.

Yeji thinks she might be friends with a real life heartthrob. 

And then Ryuijn’s lips (have they always been so shiny?) start to move, and Yeji realizes she’s talking. Yeji hears the words, _Guess who’s going to her first wedding!_ but all she can think about is how she’d really like to brush that one stray hair out of Ryujin’s face, tuck it behind her ear and maybe make her blush. 

Ryujin says, “Yeah! My cousin Mihyun is getting married this summer! I’m so excited for her!”

Yeji can’t focus. Her eyes catch on the glint of Ryujin’s earrings, on the dimples in her cheeks when she smiles. And Yeji finds herself smiling too, hooked on Ryujin’s voice as she talks about how cute the invitation had been, captivated by the way she shines in the sun. She hears Ryujin say there were pink and purple flowers on the card, but in her head all Yeji can process is, _I think I want to date her_.

Ryujin is looking at Chaeryeong, so she doesn’t notice Yeji watching her with an embarrassing amount of awe, but Jisu certainly does, if the _look_ she sends Yeji’s way is anything to go by. Yeji flushes when the notices it, then flushes even harder when Chaeryeong asks for pictures of the wedding because she wants to see the dresses and the boquetts, and Ryujin’s eyes finally meet Yeji’s as she says, “Yeah, of course. I know we’re gonna get good pics.”

Ryujin grins like she knows something Yeji doesn’t, and Yeji can’t want to find out what it is.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Eight o’clock on Saturday night two weeks later, Ryujin is sprawled across Yeji’s bedroom floor looking up at Yeji where she hangs halfway off the edge of her bed. They’re having a sleepover, because you never really grow out of wanting to spend the night goofing off with your friends. 

Jisu was supposed to come too, but she’d cancelled last minute to go support one of the boys from her performing arts club at a concert she’d misremembered the date of. Yeji thinks that Donghyuck’s older sister Yeri - who’s at all of his performances without fail - might be the _real_ reason Jisu is flaking on their plans, but Yeji can’t really blame her. Yeri is definitely a dream girl. (Just not _Yeji’s_.)

As it happens though, Jisu’s absence leaves room for a soft-spoken question to fall from Ryujin’s lips. “Do you wanna be my plus one for the wedding?” 

Yeji almost falls off her bed. Her brain goes to static for a moment, and she stumbles through her reply, “Yeah, that would be so cool!” 

“Yeah?” Ryujin asks from the floor, looking up at Yeji with a smile.

“For sure,” Yeji says, “weddings are so cool! Plus it’d be really nice to spend the day with you.”

Ryujin’s smile turns blinding as she asks again, “Yeah?”

“What are you, a broken record?” Yeji says in lieu of answering.

“Yeah,” Ryujin says, before laughing so loud that Yeji thinks the sound will echo in her room for hours to come. 

Yeji thinks she wouldn’t mind making Ryujin laugh like that every day. She loves the way it feels in her room with just the two of them, with Ryujin looking at her like she’s the only thing that matters. She wants to get used to this. 

“Don’t you think it’ll be cool when we get older and more people we know start getting married?” Yeji asks, thinking of a rosy, bright future. “We could go to those weddings together too.”

Ryujin rolls a stress ball out from under Yeji’s bed where she’d lost it a few days earlier and tosses it back and forth between her hands. “You think we’ll all still know each other by then?”

“Well not _all_ of the people we know now, but you and me? The girls? For sure. I’ll stick to you like the tape on the edges of all your Twice posters.”

Ryujin tosses the ball to Yeji. Well, _at_ her, since Yeji is in no place to catch it. The toss is harmless though, ball bouncing off the mattress a few inches away from Yeji just to fall to the floor and roll for a second before stopping halfway between the two of them. “So you’re saying I’ll literally never be able to get rid of you?” Ryujin aks.

“Exactly.”

“Cool,” Ryujin smiles, warm and happy. “I’ll be tape for you too.”

“Cool,” Yeji echoes back at her, smiling just as bright. 

_Very cool._

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

An hour later, Ryujin asks Yeji if she still has bleach and developer from when she gave herself blond streaks (which she later turned midnight blue). Yeji rolls off her bed with an, _I think so, why?_ and leads Ryujin out of her bedroom and to the bathroom down the hall. 

Ryuijn’s voice bounces off the bathroom walls as she says, “I want you to help me bleach my hair. If you’re willing.”

Yeji’s hands freeze on the cupboard handle. “Really?”

“Yeah!” Ryujin pushes up onto her toes and dances around a bit. “I think it would be cool.”

“What about your whole dark and edgy aesthetic?” Despite her questioning, Yeji’s still reaching into the cupboard and feeling around for the bleach and developer.

Ryujin scoffs, but it’s softened by a grin. “I do what I want. That’s the whole point. Not to sound lame but just being yourself is the edgiest thing you can do - after combat boots.”

Yeji is glad her face is hidden when an unbearably fond smile stretches across it as she thinks for the hundredth time that, _yeah, that’s the girl I like - that’s everything I want_. “That suits you,” she says, finally finding what she’s looking for and pulling it out of the cupboard.

“Thanks,” Ryujin says, tapping her toes on the bathroom tile and inching closer to peer over Yeji’s shoulder at the products in her hands. “Is that enough?”

“Depends on how much you want to bleach,” Yeji answers, setting the bottle and resealable bag on the counter. She pulls the bag open to see how much powder is left inside. The scent of the bleach is stronger than she remembered, and she makes the mistake of breathing while her face is too close to it. As soon as the kick hits her nose, she takes a halting step backwards, coughing and shaking her head like that will knock the horrible smell away. 

“Woah-” Yeji steps right back into Ryujin’s chest, almost stumbles away before Ryujin’s hands come up to grip her arms and steady her, keeping Yeji right where she is “-you okay?” Ryujin asks, touch gentle and body warm where it’s touching Yeji’s.

Yeji lets out a sharp breath through her nose and drags in a new breath of chemical-free air. She nods her head. “Yeah, I’m good. Just forgot how much kick bleach has.”

Ryujin laughs, a bit teasing, but so bright that Yeji knows there’s not an ounce of meanness in it. Her grip tightens around Yeji’s arms, fingers pressing into skin for a moment before the touch eases and she’s giving Yeji a light pat and taking a small step back so they each have enough space to move and breathe. 

Yeji wouldn’t have minded staying so close, but it’s not like Ryujin has put any _real_ distance between them, so she’s not all too upset. With the (rather large) part of her brain that had been focused on the way Ryujin had felt up against her now free for regular business again, Yeji remembers what had led to the close proximity in the first place. 

Ryujin remembers as well, answering Yeji’s question with just a bit less ease in her voice than before. “I want to do my whole head,” she says. “And I know it’ll probably need to get done twice to get the color right, so I’m gonna hit up the store when I go to my dad’s tomorrow to grab more stuff for that, and I’ll get enough to replace whatever we use tonight - I mean, if you’re cool with this? I know it’s kinda a lot to ask so it’s cool if you don’t want to.”

“No, I’m down,” Yeji assures her. “I can bring my laptop in here and we can just watch the movie while we do this. You’re probably gonna want a full shower when it’s time to wash the bleach out though, you don’t have a problem using my shower, right? I can get you a clean towel and everything.”

“Please,” Ryujin laughs, “if I can use the showers in the girls locker room, I can definitely use yours.”

Yeji makes a fake retching sound. “Point.” She glances at the bleach and developer on the bathroom counter. “I think I’ve got enough for your whole head since this _is_ a jumbo pack, but I guess we’ll see. You don’t mind taking the risk?”

“Nah,” Ryujin shakes her head.

“And you’re sure you trust _me_ with your hair?”

“Please, your hair looked cool as fuck when you did it. Besides, at least you have an idea what you’re doing since you went to that camp last summer, right? If it’s not you doing it, it’ll just be me following some crappy youtube tutorial and I _definitely_ have more faith in you in that scenario.” Ryujin offers Yeji a smile to drive the point home. 

“And if it still turns out bad?” Yeji asks one last time, just to be sure. “What about the wedding?”

Ryujin lifts both hands and drops them on Yeji’s shoulders, tilts her head up a bit to meet Yeji’s eyes. “Minji told me half the bridesmaids have colored hair right now, including her! And Mihyun’s literally almost gone purple five times since the start of the year. I think I’ll fit in even better with fun hair than I would with this-” she shakes her head and her dark, shiny hair ripples around her like a halo “-even if it ends up kind of messy.”

Yeji watches Ryujin’s hair move and swears there must be some kind of magic in the air that makes it look like she’s inside a commercial for conditioner and not just standing in Yeji’s bathroom. She takes a beat too long to snap back to her senses, caught up admiring the way dark strands fall at the edges of Ryujin’s face, contrasting her skin and framing her like a work of art. “That’s… that’s good, then,” she says when control of her brain comes back to her. 

Ryujin smiles brightly even though Yeji’s response is too slow, betrays a little too much. “Yeah? We doing this, then?”

Yeji stares, watching the light dance in Ryujin’s eyes, admiring the faint brush of freckles on Ryujin’s cheeks that say summer is coming and bringing the sun with it. She nods in answer to Ryujin’s question, unable to think of any words that aren’t, _you’re amazing, beautiful, a little bit crazy, every bit the girl for me_. 

“Awesome!” Ryujin claps. “You’re the best, Yeji!” 

Inside Yeji’s head, there’s the sound of breaking glass and sirens as she tries to process Ryujin’s beaming face and the fact that all that light is directed right at _her_. Words fail her again, and she’s lucky she can even manage a shrug in response.

“This is gonna take a while, right?” Ryujin asks, “Any way I can snag your desk chair and bring it in here?”

Yeji nods, then finally finds her words again. “That would be great, actually. It’ll put you at the right height.”

“Cool.” Ryujin spins on her heel and walks right back out of the bathroom. 

Yeji blinks, taps her cheeks to bring herself back to her senses. She can’t go losing her mind all the time just because Ryujin smells like peach hand cream, which Yeji only remembers in the spare moments Ryujin isn’t taking her breath away. She can’t forget how to act like a human around Ryujin just because she desperately wants to hold Ryujin’s hands in a very non-platonic way, run fingers through her hair for reasons that aren’t at all related to dyeing, find out what flavor her lip balm is without having to ask.

She’s Ryujin’s friend before she’s a girl helplessly crushing on her, so she pulls herself together. Ryujin returns with Yeji’s desk chair as well as her laptop, and while Yeji sets to mixing the bleach in her dye bowl, Ryujin positions the laptop on the counter nearby and pulls up the movie they’d planned to watch. 

When Yeji finishes her mixing, she turns to Ryujin and realizes she’s wearing a shirt too nice for what they’re about to do. “Come on,” she says, ushering Ryujin out of the bathroom one last time, “I’ll get you an old shirt to wear.”

“Oh.” Ryujin flashes her a smile. “Thanks.”

Yeji nods, trying not to flush, and leads the way back to her bedroom, where she tugs an old camp shirt out of her dresser. It’s an XL - her dad had gotten her to drop-offs late, and that was all that had been left - but it’ll work perfectly for this. Yeji tosses the shirt to Ryujin, and leaves again so she can change. 

A minute later, the sight of Ryujin _drowning_ in the tee sends Yeji into a temporary spiral, her brain shorting out entirely, leaving her to try and tug her plastic gloves on backwards. Ryujin giggles at Yeji’s floundering, and the sound just makes it worse. Yeji’s cheeks are burning by the time she comes back to her senses and is all ready to get to work. 

While the opening credits of the movie play, Yeji takes calming breaths and brushes carefully through Ryujin’s hair, trying not to think about how unfairly soft it is. She parts it, clipping it up in sections, explaining as she goes so Ryujin will be able to do it on her own again later, and then gets to work. 

They spend the next two hours lapsing between bouts of comfortable silence and talking over the movie, as Yeji paints Ryujin’s hair blond. The timing is almost perfect; Yeji is ready to put Ryujin’s hair up in a cap within twenty minutes of the movie ending.

“I’ll check the color every couple minutes and let you know when you’re good to wash the bleach out,” Yeji says, cleaning up the counter. “If your scalp really starts to burn though, you should just get in the shower right away.”

“Aye, aye,” Ryujin affirms as she stands and gathers up the chair and laptop to bring back into Yeji’s room. 

It’s smooth sailing from there on out. Yeji finishes cleaning up the mess she’s made, and she and Ryujin chat for another ten minutes before the roots of Ryujin’s hair are pale enough for Yeji to consider the job done. She sends Ryujin off to the shower with a fresh towel, and is left to sit alone on her bed while the sound of Ryujin’s music filters faintly through the bathroom door and down the hall to Yeji’s room.

If, when Ryujin returns from the bathroom some time later in soft pajamas, with sopping yellow-white hair and a toothy grin, Yeji blacks out for a moment, that’s for no one to know but her.

...And maybe Ryujin as well, if the way her eyes brighten and smile softens is anything to go by.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

The next time Yeji sees Ryujin after the sleepover, her hair is pink. _Bubblegum_ pink. They’re meeting up with the rest of the girls for a karaoke night, and Yeji knows the second Ryujin steps into view, that she’s not going to be able to focus on _anything_. 

She’s right, for the most part. They all file into their room and Jisu starts the night off with something bright and lively, but Yeji feels it all happen in a bit of a haze. Turns out she _can_ focus on something, and that something is sitting right beside her, making her body feel alight, every nerve ending singing like she’s electrified. The feeling is far more pleasant than it has any right to be, in Yeji’s opinion.

Jisu finishes her song and passes the mic to Chaeryeong, who tugs Yuna up as well. They power through a song full of swing and fervor, and are both sweating by the time the last note plays. 

“Your turn!” Yuna announces, thrusting the mic at Ryujin. 

Ryujin grabs the mic with one hand, and grabs Yeji with the other. "Come on," she urges, tugging Yeji up with her and motioning for her to grab the second mic. "What do you want to sing?"

"I'm fine with whatever," Yeji says, because it's true and because she can't think of a single song she knows when Ryujin is holding her hand and directing those sparkling eyes her way.

"All right!" Ryujin cheers. She steps forward and starts tabbing through the song options without missing a beat, like she's been planning this since they first set foot in the karaoke room and has just been waiting for the chance to pick the one she wants. 

Yeji clears her throat while the screen flashes in front of her, and tries to convince herself she can do this. She knows how to sing, so as long as she doesn't get distracted by Ryujin's bright hair and her shining presence, she should be good to go. 

Then the first notes of the song start to play and Yeji is snapped back to her senses with a jolt. She knows this song; this is one of her favorites from all the offered choices. Ryujin sends her a grin and a wink, and she starts to sing. 

Suddenly it all feels so easy. Yeji may be smitten, may lose her mind from time to time with how much she likes Ryujin in a stuttering, blushing mess kind of way, but she also knows Ryujin well, likes her as a person and not just a crush. Sometimes it gets overwhelming - just how much she wants to kiss Ryujin square on the lips - and Yeji finds herself almost intimidated by Ryujin’s sheer presence, but this brings her back to earth. This grounds her. 

Ryujin is real, is her friend. She's singing Yeji's song with all her heart, just waiting for Yeji to join in. So Yeji does; she meets Ryujin in the middle, and while their friends whoop and holler in the background, Yeji truly feels like a star, like she's shining just as bright as Ryujin, right alongside her. 

For three and a half minutes, there isn't a drop of hesitation in Yeji's blood. While the song plays and they sing along, there's nothing but the two of them, sparkling under the spinning colored lights. There’s nothing but the music and the emotion poured into it.

When the song ends, Ryujin sends Yeji a dazzling smile, and Yeji returns it so easily, it feels like nothing else matters. 

The night is golden, glimmering.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

As the date of the wedding draws nearer, Yeji learns that Ryujin's family will be driving out of town, staying at a hotel somewhere in the countryside for the wedding, which is being held at a venue that looks like it's come straight out of a Disney movie. 

"Holy shit," Yeji breathes when Ryujin pulls up the venue website to show her pictures. "This place is so nice. It looks like it costs a fortune."

Ryujin giggles, nodding. "Shiah's family is fucking loaded." 

"Really?" Yeji asks, eyes wide. She knows people who are well off, but she's never met a _rich_ person before. "Are they like... one of _those_ families?"

Ryujin shrugs. "I've never met any of the rest of them, but Shiah is literally the sweetest. I swear she was created in a lab as the first perfect human specimen... or some warlock accidentally turned a cake into a human being and decided she was too good to turn back. Those are the only two things that make sense.”

Yeji laughs. "You’re joking, right?"

Ryujin sends her a disbelieving look. "I am dead serious, Yeji."

Yeji clamps her mouth shut and tries valiantly to quiet her laughter. Ryujin lets her stew for thirty seconds before letting out a light laugh herself, reaching out to swat Yeji’s shoulder and then leaving her hand there. “I was _kind of_ joking. Like fifteen percent.”

“So you were eighty-five percent serious?” Yeji asks, quirking a brow and impressing the hell out of herself with how cool she’s being even as Ryujin’s fingers brush against her bare skin. 

Ryujin’s grin grows wider. “And they say gays can’t do math.”

“Maybe being bi gives me a pass,” Yeji jokes. 

“Hmm. I guess it does.” Ryujin narrows her eyes playfully. “You still can’t drive for shit, though.”

Yeji shoves Ryujin away like she’s just committed a grave offense and they’re not both laughing loud enough to earn a scolding from Ryujin’s older brother, who’s in the adjacent room, trying to work on his computer. Ryujin rolls backwards into the couch cushions, ignoring Jaemin’s glare. 

“At least I can park,” Yeji counters once they’ve both caught their breath.

“I guess that’s a fair point,” Ryujin admits, “but good parking doesn’t mean anything if you can’t get to where you need to park first, does it?”

Yeji, because she is a mature young woman and she respects the art of debate, retaliates by sticking her tongue out at Ryujin. 

Ryujin bursts into laughter again, and answers Yeji’s bait with a throw pillow to the chest. Yeji retaliates with a pillow of her own, and chaos descends in the blink of an eye.

By the time Yeji has to head home for the day, she hasn’t learned anything else about the wedding, Mihyun’s fiance or her family, but she _has_ learned how it feels to have Ryujin pinned under her on the couch at the end of a pillow fight, face flushed from the exertion and something more. 

She thinks it’s certainly a day well spent.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

A week before she’s set to join Ryujin’s family for the drive out to the hotel all the closest guests are being put up in - _yeah,_ Ryujin had said, _Shiah’s family is_ that _loaded_ \- Yeji calls Jisu, desperate for help figuring out what she should wear for the event, how she should do her hair and her makeup. It isn’t every day you get invited to attend a wedding with the girl you like. Yeji wants to use the opportunity to show her best side.

Jisu jumps at the invitation to come over, and she arrives at Yeji’s door with a bag of clementines in hand and merciless teasing already rolling off the tip of her tongue. For the first ten minutes, nothing in the way of planning for the wedding even gets done - Jisu simply sets herself into Yeji’s desk chair and eats wedge after wedge of clementines, offering them to Yeji as bribes when she asks whether Yeji’s planning on confessing to Ryujin any time soon.

Yeji turns bright red and refuses to answer any of Jisu’s questions until they make some sort of progress. When Jisu tires of needling Yeji for answers, she finally agrees to do what she’d come over for.

Jisu, when she's not teasing, is incredibly helpful. She suggests that Yeji wear her old formals dress - a silvery blue piece that's got shimmering thread woven through the straps for the arms and across the partly open back. Yeji hadn't even considered the dress when she'd been brainstorming on her own, partly because she might have forgotten she still had it in the first place, and partly because it seems a little too showy for someone else's wedding.

When Yeji voices her concerns with Jisu's idea, Jisu shakes her head adamantly. "I've been to weddings before," she says, "and people definitely wear even flashier things. Besides, Ryujin said Mihyun's fiance comes from a rich family, right? So I bet both their dresses will be so gorgeous it doesn’t matter what anyone else shows up in."

Yeji mulls this over. She supposes Jisu has a point. Her dress _had_ been fairly understated compared to what many of her classmates had worn to formals, so it might be perfect for the wedding after all. It's light, but blue enough to be nowhere near the realm of white - which would be an automatic _no no_ , of course - and it's breezy enough that it's pretty without being overly formal.

"Jisu, you're a beautiful genius," Yeji says once she’s fully convinced.

Jisu's face splits into a wide grin. "I know, I know. Thank you for acknowledging it." Her grin turns cheeky. "I bet Ryujin won't be able to take her eyes off you."

"Shut up, I take it back. I regret this so much."

"No," Jisu sighs merrily. She moves from the chair to stand in front of Yeji so she's looking down at her where she sits perched on the edge of her bed, and rests her hands on Yeji's shoulder. "You don't. Because you would be lost without me."

"Your fingers are sticky," Yeji says instead of telling Jisu she's right.

Jisu lifts her hands just to smack them back down. It makes a loud sound, but it doesn't hurt. Jisu narrows her eyes, and Yeji expects a retort, but all Jisu says is, "Anyway, I have the perfect idea for your hair."

And they get back to work.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

The day of the wedding dawns clear and blue. Yeji gathers up both her overnight bag and the one holding her carefully put away dress, and takes the morning bus across town to meet Ryujin at her mother’s house. When Yeji arrives, she finds Ryujin waiting in the driveway, still in her pajamas. 

“Come on inside,” Ryujin says with a wave.

Yeji follows her into the house, setting her bags on top of the short cube shelf by the door, and is greeted by the sight of Ryujin’s mother and older sister darting back and forth from the kitchen to the entryway, ensuring they have everything they need. 

“Will you call your brother again?” Ryujin’s mom says as she passes by, seemingly not having noticed Yeji’s presence yet. “Light a fire under his ass, please. We need to leave soon.”

“Sure,” Ryujin says with a grin. When her mom disappears down the hall again, she pulls Yeji along with her as she walks towards the basement door and throws it open. “Jaemin! Stop taking your sweet ass time! We’re _literally_ on a clock!”

“We’re coming!” Jaemin shouts back up the stairs. “Give us a _minute_ , jeeze.” 

“Us?” Yeji asks, looking at Ryujin in confusion. 

“Donghyuck slept over last night,” Ryujin says conspiratorially.

“Donghyuck from Jisu’s performing arts club? Yeri’s brother?”

“Ding ding ding!” Ryujin says, eyes glittering. “The one and only.”

“Oh.” Yeji can’t help glancing down the stairs to the basement. “I don’t think I knew they were friends.”

“I don’t know if they’re _friends_ ,” Ryujin says.

Yeji looks back to her, startled by the suggestive tone of her voice. “Oh!” She feels suddenly guilty for looking down the basement steps, like she’s invaded some kind of privacy even though she can’t see anything but the blue carpet at the bottom of the stairs. “Are they like… together?”

“Dunno, actually,” Ryujin admits. “Jaemin hasn’t said anything yet, but Dayoung and I have a running bet on it.”

“What’d you wager?”

“Dishwasher duties.”

Yeji lets out a loud laugh at that, and it finally catches the attention of Ryujin’s mom, who pauses in her bustling around the house to greet Yeji. “Hi, sweetheart,” she says warmly, “I didn’t see you get here.”

“No worries!” Yeji assures her. “I didn’t want to disrupt anything.”

“Oh, you know I don’t mind,” Ryujin’s mom says with a wave of her hand. “I’m used to the chaos.” And, to prove her point, Ryujin’s mom bursts back into motion, shouting for Jaemin again as she passes the basement steps, before hurrying out the front door with two insulated bags from the kitchen. 

“Come on,” Ryujin says, tugging Yeji’s arm, “I saved you some french toast. You never eat enough breakfast and we’ll be in the car for a while. I don’t want to listen to your stomach grumbling for four hours.”

“Was your mom not just bringing food out to the car?” Yeji asks, though she follows Ryujin into the kitchen and accepts the offering of toast.

Ryujin crosses her arms over his chest and purses her lips. “Maybe.”

“Any reason I couldn’t just eat that?” 

“No,” Ryujin admits.

Yeji takes a bite and chews, watching Ryujin’s face turn... _pink_? She stays silent, waiting for Ryujin to say whatever’s clearly hanging onto the tip of her tongue. “I just thought the french toast was really good when I had it so I thought you’d like to have some, too. I don’t know.” Ryujin says it all in a rush, struggling to meet Yeji’s eyes. 

Yeji blinks. Ryujin remembered that she doesn’t ever eat a real breakfast. Ryujin thought the food was so good that she wanted to share it with her. Yeji swallows her bite and smiles, bright and genuine. “Thanks,” she says.

“It’s nothing,” Ryujin mutters, cheeks the same shade as her hair. She takes a small step back, swinging her hands. “I’m gonna go shout at Jaemin again.”

“Have fun,” Yeji says. She watches Ryujin hurry off in the direction of the basement and digs into the french toast. 

The house is far from quiet with Ryujin and Jaemin shouting back and forth, but for a minute, it is impossibly _still_ . Then Ryujin leaps into view with a shriek and there’s a loud _thunk_ as something - a shoe? - hits the wall across from the basement door. In the same moment, the front door creaks open again and Ryujin’s sister shouts, “Mina’s here! We’re all good to go.”

“Coming!” Jaemin hollers up the stairs. 

“You’re lucky your aim sucks,” Ryujin says, throwing whatever Jaemin had thrown at her back down the stairs. 

There’s a shout of protest, but Ryujin drowns it out by announcing that everyone should use the bathroom before leaving, then shooing Yeji towards it so she can get in and out before the boys emerge from the basement. One by one, all of them shuffle in and out of the bathroom, and then file out of the house with their bags, congregating in the driveway. 

Ryujin’s mom has them all load their things into the trunk of the family minivan, and there’s one last call for bathrooms, which has Dayoung and Mina rushing into the house, Ryujin’s mom following them once she’s double checked that everything is good to go. 

When everyone returns, they pile into the car together, Jaemin and Donghyuck claiming the back seats, Yeji, Ryujin, and Mina in the middle row, Dayoung in the driver’s seat, and her mother riding shotgun. 

“Dayoung offered to drive there because she doesn’t want to have to drive on the way back when she’s hungover,” Ryujin whispers to Yeji. 

Yeji shivers as Ryujin’s lips ghost over the shell of her ear. She hopes the reaction isn’t too noticeable, and tries to stop herself from thinking that she would _really_ enjoy getting used to that feeling. She doesn’t think sitting in a car surrounded by Ryujin’s family is the best time to be entertaining ideas like that.

In the end, she’s saved from the danger of her own thoughts by Ryujin’s mom twisting in her seat and roping everyone into a discussion that Yeji tunes out the second she hears the word _vegan_. Slumping against her seat back, she lets her head roll to the side so she can watch the scenery fly by. Behind her, she can hear Jaemin and Donghyuck whispering about something, but she can’t make out the words, and thinks she’s probably better off not knowing anyway. 

At some point, Ryujin’s voice draws Yeji’s attention, and she turns her head away from the window to look at Ryujin as she reads a text from her eldest sister, Minji, describing the chaos already descending over the bridal suite as Mihyun and her bridesmaids get ready. 

“Arin says Shiah’s already cried once and they haven’t even done her hair yet,” Mina announces in response. It seems all the bridesmaids are documenting the wedding process very thoroughly.

“That’s sweet,” Ryujin sighs, “Shiah’s so cute.”

“Yeah,” Mina agrees. 

Ryujin’s mom cuts in next, asking about the logistics of the morning preparations, and Yeji lets it fade to background noise once again. She finds herself yawning, still tired from an earlier morning than she’s used to, and lulled by the steady rumble of the car down the road.

The sound must catch Ryujin’s attention, because she turns her head to face Yeji and laughs lightly. “Will you get carsick if you nap?”

Yeji shakes her head, blinking heavily. 

“You should rest, then,” Ryujin says. “We’ve got a long day coming. I’ll try to talk quieter.”

“Thanks,” Yeji says, and she settles into her seat, getting as comfortable as she can.

She doesn’t expect to ever fall asleep for real, but she must, because an hour or so later, she’s awakened by a particularly loud statement from Jaemin in the back seat. She feels something soft and cottony pressed against her cheek, and blinks her eyes open to find that it’s Ryujin’s shoulder, covered by the sleeve of her t-shirt.

“Quiet down, Jaemin,” Ryujin hisses, “I don’t want to go deaf before I get to hear the vows tonight.”

Jaemin grumbles something like _just because your girlfriend is sleeping_ , but lowers his voice as asked anyway. Yeij tries very hard not to think too hard about what she thinks she’s heard Jaemin say, or about how Ryujin smells far nicer than she should for a summer morning: vaguely like shampoo, fabric softener, and rose-scented deodorant. 

Yeji tries very hard not to think of anything at all, but when she’s close to Ryujin like this, there’s one stubborn thought that always seems to flit back through her head no matter what she does: _I could get used to this._

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

The first thing Yeji notices when she steps into the hotel room she’s sharing with Ryujin - before the bright light streaming through the open blinds or the large TV on the wall - is the bed. It’s draped in a thick white duvet, piled high with pillows, and, most importantly: singular. There's only one bed.

Ryujin walks right through the doorway without pause, striding to the farthest bed stand and dropping her bags, but Yeji freezes. She's shared a bed before, of course, every time Jisu sleeps over and innumerable times as a child, but this is different. This is _Ryujin_.

"You just gonna stare at the sweet digs all day?" Ryujin asks when she notices that Yeji hasn't moved from the entrance.

Yeji blinks, shaking herself from her stupor. "Ha. Of course not," she says.

As Ryujin lays out an array of her things on the far side of the bed, Yeji walks to the bed stand closest to her and sets down her bags just as Ryujin had.

"I'm gonna shower real quick," Ryujin says. "Do you need to pee before I head in there?"

Yeji nods and practically bolts into the bathroom so she can relieve her bladder and then have a silent thirty second meltdown about the bed situation while she washes her hands. When her thirty seconds are up, she's done a terrible job of convincing herself everything is fine, but she doesn't want to keep Ryujin from the shower any longer, so she schools her face into something she hopes doesn't broadcast her _I am Freaking the Fuck Out Right Now!_ dilemma, and vacates the bathroom.

Ryujin doesn't seem to notice anything is off about her in the moment they pass each other, so Yeji counts it as a win.

A minute later, Yeji hears the shower start to run, and she throws herself into getting ready in the hopes that it will keep her mind off... well, _everything_. She sits cross-legged on the floor in front of the mirror in the corner of the room by the window, and does her makeup just like Jisu had suggested, soft and shimmery to match her dress.

She's just finishing her second eyeliner wing when the sound of the water running in the bathroom cuts off. Yeji lets out a breath and forces herself to keep her focus on the final touch of the look: an icy blue shadow brushed lightly on her lower lash line, _to make her eyes pop!_ as Jisu had put it.

When Ryujin doesn’t emerge from the bathroom as Yeji had expected, she realizes Ryujin must be getting ready with the help of the large mirror hanging above the sink. Yeji feels a twinge of disappointment alongside the relief that she now has an extra fifteen minutes to talk herself down from her panic. 

Brushing her hair, she reasons that the bed is big enough for them to both sleep comfortably without ever even touching. Twisting her hair into the half up-do she’d practiced with Jisu, she tells herself that it’s really not weird at all - Ryujin hadn’t seemed phased by it in the slightest, and she and Ryujin have fallen asleep partly draped over each other before anyway. The fact that this time it might happen in a bed that they’re sharing doesn’t mean anything. 

Yeji slides the last clip into her hair and nods to herself. There’s no reason to freak out. It will only be weird if she makes it weird. So she stands and puts her brushes and products back into her toiletry bag and moves on to her dress. She pulls it out with care, and stares at it a minute, checking for blemishes that don’t exist on the fabric, before shucking off her shorts and tank and finally slipping into the dress. 

It’s in the same moment that Yeji steps in front of the mirror to see how she looks, that the bathroom door clicks open and Ryujin steps into the room. Yeji catches a glimpse of her in the mirror, and she’s sure she goes red from her neck to her ears at the sight: Ryujin’s makeup and hair are done - straightforward and simple - and she’s wrapped in nothing but a white hotel towel. 

“Woah, your dress is so pretty!” Ryujin says as she crosses the room.

“Thanks!” Yeji all but squeaks, trying valiantly not to look at Ryujin’s bare arms and legs.

“We got ready so fast, I bet we’re the first ones done,” Ryujin thinks out loud, pumping a fist as if this is a great victory they’ve won. 

“Technically you’re not ready,” Yeji points out, “unless you’re wearing that to the wedding and trying to upstage the brides.”

Ryujin looks down at herself like she’d forgotten what she was wearing - or _not_ wearing. “Right,” she laughs. She turns to face the bed, and reaches for the piece she’d laid out earlier. With no warning, the towel wrapped around Ryujin’s body starts to slip, and Yeji squeezes her eyes shut with impossible speed, keeping them like that until she’s sure Ryujin is dressed. 

When Yeji opens her eyes again, her breath catches in her throat. Ryujin is standing much closer now, appraising her reflection in the mirror. Her reflection doesn’t need any kind of appraisal though; Yeji thinks it’s priceless, an art the likes of which should be displayed in the MoMA. 

Ryujin’s wearing a black jumpsuit made of fabric that gleams and looks like water catching the light of the moon in the dead of night. It’s cinched high at Ryujin’s waist, legs cut off right at Ryujin’s ankles, making her look much taller than she is, and it has thin straps at the arms that show off Ryujin’s shoulders and back in a way that makes Yeji’s mouth go dry.

“What do you think?” Ryujin asks when she notices Yeji looking.

“You look beautiful,” Yeji breathes before she can think to stop herself. 

Ryujin’s cheeks, already pink from the tasteful blush she’d applied, flush a bit brighter. “Thanks,” she says, an almost shy smile on her lips. “You do too. Really.”

Yeji glances at her own reflection, appearing shoulder to shoulder with Ryujin’s. “Thanks,” she echoes. In the mirror, she sees Ryujin’s eyes linger on her. Maybe it’s the pink of her lips, or the dip of her collarbone, or the hair curled over her shoulder - Yeji can’t tell for sure, but she _sees._

Standing there, Yeji wonders if maybe Ryujin feels this same _something_ that she does. Ryujin meets her eyes in the mirror, offering a smile that seems almost bashful. 

Yeji lets herself hope. 

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

The wedding venue is quite possibly the most beautiful place in the world.

Yeji steps out of the car and spins in a circle, staring at the scenery in wonder. They've parked in a grass lot: a large, open space ringed by trees and cut through with gravel paths instead of any kind of pavement. Past the lot, there's an orchard that stretches as far as Yeji can see, sprawling over the hilly ground and filling the air with an earthy and sweet scent.

Opposite the orchard, at the other end of the parking lot, is a massive barn that's been repurposed into a reception site. The barn has countless windows that catch the summer sun and throw it back so the building seems to sparkle in the light.

Beyond the barn lays a vast expanse of grass, so green it almost doesn't look real. The ceremony site has been set up there: rows and rows of chairs lined by floral arrangements, all leading up to the arbor, which is made of intricately woven white wood and practically dripping with daisies and sweet peas.

“Wow, the pictures really don't even do this place justice,” Yeji breathes as she looks past the set up to marvel at the mountains encircling the venue as a whole. It's the perfect time of year for the trees that blanket the mountains to shine, as bright and green as they'll be all season. Everything looks like it's come straight out of a fairytale.

"Yeah," Ryujin agrees, standing at Yeji's side. "They hit the jackpot with this place."

"For real."

"Do you want to just admire it from afar or are we gonna go join the party?" Jaemin asks, the last to clamber out of the car, and apparently the most impatient.

"From afar?" Donghyuck snickers. “Who _are_ you?”

“He’s feeling profound today,” Dayoung says, locking the car twice so it honks and startles both the boys.

“It’s the love in the air,” Jaemin sighs, clutching his chest like he’s _that_ affected by the atmosphere and not just making sure his heart still works after jumping a foot high in surprise. 

“Come on,” Ryujin stage whispers, grabbing Yeji’s hand, “let’s run before he starts waxing poetic.”

Yeji lets out a surprised giggle as Ryujin really does start to speed-walk forward, tugging Yeji along with her. She lets herself be pulled, though- Ryujin’s enthusiasm too infectious to fight. 

Ryujin is a whirlwind Yeji doesn’t mind being swept up by.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Turns out there’s something special about weddings that Yeji hadn’t realized. Maybe it’s the way love and excitement and anticipation mingle in the air and creep into everyone's lungs regardless of their relation to the brides-to-be, or maybe it’s something entirely without a name, but whatever it is, Yeji feels it. The _something_ settles over her, plants itself within her ribcage and starts to bloom there. 

It’s this _something_ , she tells herself, that makes her look at Ryujin with a little more longing than is probably acceptable. 

She tries to keep it off her face, but the strength of it is a bit too much to keep under wraps. It’s just that Ryujin’s pink hair seems to glow under the sun, and the two braids she’d worked into it are slightly lopsided and it’s so cute that Yeiji can't stand it. It’s just that Ryujin’s eyes are lined with both black and pink wings, one on top of the other to compliment her hair and make her eyes pop. It’s just that Ryujin is _Ryujin,_ and Yeji is helplessly fond.

When the music starts and the bridesmaids trail up the aisle, one after the other, Ryujin watches them with wide, bright eyes, and Yeji watches Ryujin the same way. It’s not until the processional song starts that Yeji is able to shift her focus from Ryujin to the far end of the aisle, down the path marked by flowers that leads to a back door of the barn. 

The door opens, and Mihyun emerges. Ryujin’s breath catches in her throat at the sight of her cousin, draped in white and _glowing_. She makes a soft, happy sound, and even as Yeji admires Mihyun’s walk up the aisle, she can’t help the swell of fondness she feels for Ryujin. 

When Mihyun reaches the arbor, the music swells again, and the barn door opens a second time. The moment Shiah steps out into the light, Yeji’s own breath catches. Shiah is stunning in a different way than Mihyun, a bit softer and daintier, and she floats towards the arbor like a fairy in her sparkling white dress. 

As she passes the row Yeji sits in, Yeji can see that beyond her overjoyed smile, there are happy tears in Shiah’s eyes. And strangely, it doesn’t matter that Yeji’s never met Shiah before; the sight makes Yeji teary as well.

The teary eyes last all through the ceremony, as Mihyun and Shiah recite their vows and are pronounced married. Sniffles turn to cheers then, and as the brides slip off together for photos, the mingling and festivities begin. 

Yeji spends social hour glued to Ryujin’s hip as she breezes around, chatting with friends and family. For the most part, Yeji is happy to simply observe and listen, and wolf down more appetizers than she should because whatever caterers are working the event _really_ know what they’re doing in the kitchen. Every so often, though, Ryujin will lead them to a cluster of kids who seem roughly their age, and Yeji will join the conversations.

It’s not until Ryujin is called away for a family photo with Mihyun that Yeji finds herself feeling a bit out of her depth in a crowd of people she doesn’t know. She retreats to the appetizer table and makes herself look busy eating the baby carrots that might be there more for decoration than anything else, but are certainly still edible. There, she finds Donghyuck, who seems to be in a similar predicament with Jaemin caught up taking pictures as well. 

“You too?” Yeji asks as Donghyuck approaches.

Donghyuck nods, and reaches for a stack of crackers since all the good stuff has already been eaten. 

“I didn’t know you and Jaemin were friends,” Yeji says for lack of anything better to talk about. She only knows Donghyuck tangentially, so they’ve never been alone together before, or had to carry a conversation.

Donghyuck pauses halfway through bringing a cracker to his lips. “Small world, I guess,” he says, “I didn’t know you and Ryujin were dating.”

Yeji bites down too hard on the carrot she’s eating and it snaps audibly in her mouth. She’s glad she hadn’t been in the middle of swallowing it, or she’d have choked. “Sorry?” 

“You and Ryujin…” Donghyuck says, brows furrowing, “are you _not_ dating?”

Yeji can feel herself turning red as she shakes her head. “We aren’t.”

“Oh.” Donghyuck’s eyes dart away from Yeji and he seems as flustered as she is. “Sorry,” he says, “I just figured… like from what Jaemin said and how you two act. Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Yeji says, sounding just a bit strangled.

The conversation dies quickly after that, and Yeji is relieved when she spots Ryujin’s bright hair bobbing through the crowd towards her and can flee from the awkward air. 

When Ryujin asks her what she and Donghyuck had been talking about, Yeji doesn’t mention that he’d thought they were dating. When Ryujin moves on to tell Yeji about the photos she’d taken with her family, Yeji nods along. She’s more aware than ever of the way Ryujin leans in close while she speaks, of how her hands never stray far from Yeji’s skin as Ryujin fills the conversation with small, constant touches. 

Yeji wonders for the first time how they must look to other people. She wonders if it might really mean something that Donghyuck had assumed they were dating. 

She hopes that it does.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Dinner is a quiet affair.

After introductions of the bridal party and toasts, there's a large buffet, followed some time later by dessert. Ryujin and Yeji have been seated at a table with Jaemin and Donghyuck, Dayoung and Mina, and their friend, one of the bridesmaids, Arin. The seven of them spend the whole meal bouncing from topic to odd topic and gossiping about some of the more _interesting_ guests they'd encountered during social hour.

When everyone seems to have had their fill of the food, and the sun is starting to set, sending beams of colored light through the windows lining all the barn walls, the brides have their first dance. Once the dance has ended to overwhelming applause, the rest of the rehearsed numbers are executed in quick succession. As the last one ends, the DJ transitions the music to something much livelier, and kicks off the evening festivities.

Everything seems to be going well.

Ryujin and Yeji jump up to dance right away, and are joined by Jaemin and Donghyuck not long after. Soon the dance floor is filled and the volume inside the barn is so great that Yeji has to strain to hear Ryujin shouting something about going to get water. Yeji nods and watches Ryujin disappear off towards the refreshments table, before being tugged into some kind of group dance by one of the bridesmaids, who looks tipsy enough that she's probably mistaken Yeji for someone else. The group welcomes her easily though, and they dance together in a messy semicircle for a song and a half before Yeji starts to wonder what’s taking Ryujin so long to come back.

When the song ends, Yeji excuses herself, and weaves through the crowded dance floor so she can escape the mass of bodies and look for Ryujin. Heading to the refreshment table first, Yeji’s brows furrow in confusion to find no trace of Ryujin there. It occurs to her that perhaps Ryujin had needed a bathroom break, so she heads towards the restroom signs, turning down a short hall and poking her head into the ladies room to see if Ryujin had ended up there. 

Again, Ryujin is nowhere to be seen.

Yeji frowns, confusion turning to apprehension in her gut. She leaves the bathroom and heads back into the main hall of the building, eyes trained on the large glass doors that lead out to the courtyard that’s tucked behind the barn. Opening the doors to the night breeze, Yeji shivers a bit, becoming aware of the thin layer of sweat that coats her body and now absorbs the cold like a sponge.

She steps out onto the flagstone patio and lets the door fall shut behind her. All of a sudden, the quiet is deafening. The closed door has sealed all the overwhelming sounds of music and shouting and laughter within the barn, leaving Yeji’s ears ringing as she adjusts to the silence of the outdoors.

The silence, she discovers once she’s recovered her ability to hear, is not actually that. Yeji walks away from the barn and hears crickets singing in the trees across the courtyard, hears voices from somewhere in the lawn, hears a clacking sound that must be the caterers loading dishes into their van behind the white fence that lines the edge of the patio. 

However, it’s not by sound that Yeji discovers Ryujin. When she squints into the night, she spots Ryujin cast silver by the moonlight, perched on the edge of a short stone wall that separates the lawn from the trees beyond it. Ryujin is hunched over, far more still than Yeji is used to seeing her, so she approaches carefully. 

When she’s close enough to make out the lines of Ryujin’s face drawn tight with an emotion Yeji can’t place, she calls out tentatively, “Ryujin?”

Ryujin’s head snaps up and she turns towards Yeji, expression wavering. “Hey,” she says, sounding too small. 

Yeji closes the distance between them and sits on the wall next to Ryujin. She considers asking if Ryujin is okay, but the answer is clear. “Did something happen?”

Ryujin lets out a heavy sigh. Her hands are curled into fists in her lap. “Someone from Shiah’s family was talking at the bar,” Ryujin says, and it sounds like the words come through gritted teeth. 

“Oh,” Yeji murmurs. From Ryujin’s tone and current state, it can’t have been anything good.

“She said she hoped that when Shiah realizes she’s made a mistake and ends things with Mihyun because she’s not good enough for their family, she gives up on dating altogether and just lets her parents set her up with some proper rich type. That way she won’t disappoint anyone again.” 

Yeji gapes. She’s expected something bad, but _that_ ? “That’s _horrible_.”

“I know.” Ryujin jumps to her feet and starts pacing back and forth in front of Yeji. “I’m so fucking _angry_ ,” she spits, hands shaking at her sides. “I thought I was going to punch that woman before she walked off with her husband. I can’t believe anyone could _say_ that kind of thing about _family_ ! Why would you even _come_ to their fucking wedding if you clearly don’t give a shit about either of them. _God_!” 

Ryujin stops her pacing to kick roughly at the ground, scuffing up the grass underfoot. “ _Fuck_ ! I’m so fucking _angry_.” Her voice breaks on the last few words, and she’s shaking as she drops back onto the stone wall beside Yeji. “This is supposed to be a happy night,” she whispers. “That’s what Mihyun and Shiah deserve.”

Yeji realizes with a jolt that Ryujin is crying- all her anger and frustration and hurt pooling in her eyes and spilling out over her cheeks.

“Hey,” she says gently, settling a light hand on Ryujin’s back, “I know that’s absolutely terrible what that woman said, but you know Mihyun and Shiah _are_ happy. They’re dancing together inside, and they’re surrounded by over a hundred people who are nothing but happy for them too. Whoever that woman was, if she’s that nasty, she probably won’t go anywhere near them, so they won’t have to deal with her shit.”

Ryujin sniffs loudly in the muted quiet of the lawn. She leans into Yeji’s touch and sags against her, like all the fight has drained out of her with the tears streaking down her cheeks. “I guess you’re right,” she mutters.

Yeji shifts to wrap her arm around Ryujin’s shoulders, resting her other hand on top of Ryujin’s. “And for what it’s worth, that woman was wrong. Anyone with eyes can see that Mihyun and Shiah are completely in love and they’re perfect for each other. They’ve been dating for how long already?”

“Eight years,” Ryujin says, leaning her head against Yeji’s shoulder and twisting her hand so their fingers slot together. 

“Yeah,” Yeji murmurs, “I think they’ll be just fine.”

Ryujin sighs, deep and watery. “You’re right.”

Yeji hums in response, and the two of them fall into silence. Ryujin’s sniffles fade away and her breathing evens out, and Yeji runs her fingers up and down Ryujin’s arm all the while, offering worldless comfort. 

At some point, the back door of the barn opens, and the sounds of the party spill out into the night as two figures slip out and hurry off towards the parking lot. Yeji recognizes the song that’s playing, and hums softly to it even after the door falls shut again, sealing the party off once more.

“Thanks, Yeji,” Ryujin says softly when Yeji reaches the end of the song and her humming fades back to silence. “Sorry I abandoned you in there.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Yeji says, “I understand.”

“Do you want to walk around for a bit before we go back in?” Ryujin asks, lifting her head from Yeji’s shoulder so she can look her in the eyes.

“Sure,” Yeji agrees. “It’s really pretty out here. The mountains don’t even look real.”

Ryujin smiles, faint but undeniably there. She pulls away from Yeji to twist and look out at the mountains with her. They’d been beautiful in a bright, picturesque way earlier, but now they seem almost unearthly as they glow in the moonlight, silhouetted against the starry sky. 

“I’ve never seen this many stars back home,” Ryujin says. 

Yeji hums in agreement, letting her arm fall from around Ryujin as they both stand from the stone wall. She untangles her right hand from Ryujin’s so they can walk shoulder to shoulder, just to have Ryujin reach for her left. Yeji smiles as Ryujin links their fingers once more.

“Do you think we’re allowed to go out to the orchard?” Yeji asks.

Ryujin shrugs, some of her rebellious light returning to her eyes. “As long as no one catches us, does it matter?” 

“I guess not,” Yeji says, feeling a little thrill run through her at the thought of sneaking off in the night to admire the blossoming fruit trees with Ryujin. 

“Let’s go, then.” Ryujin steps forward, leading Yeji along by their linked hands. 

They move slowly, flats pressing into the grass and leaving light indents to mark the path they’ve walked. The silence between them is comfortable, leaves room for the faraway calls of owls and the singing of night birds. Overhead, dark, wispy clouds drift lazily across the sky, and the shadows of bats flit back and forth. 

It’s peaceful, calm and serene compared to the happy chaos within the event barn. Yeji hopes their stroll in the moonlight settles Ryujin’s heart and eases her nerves.

Soon they leave the manicured lawn and cross the parking lot, gravel crunching underfoot. “Too bad we can’t pop that woman’s tires,” Yeji jokes.

Ryujin lets out a little laugh and squeezes Yeji’s hand. “Too bad,” she agrees.

They fall silent again, and continue to cut across the lot towards the orchard. Yeji’s head tilts back towards the sky and she gazes at the stars as they walk, trusting Ryujin not to lead her into any obstacles. She’s just spotted ursa minor hanging above them when Ryujin comes to an abrupt halt, yanking Yeji’s arm to stop her from walking any further. 

“What-”

“Do you see that?” Ryujin whispers, pointing towards the orchard with her free hand.

Yeji steadies herself and squints in the direction Ryujin’s indicating. Under one of the apple trees, stand two figures, impossibly close together. 

The clouds shift in the sky, exposing the moon and casting more light across the ground. Ryujin gasps. 

“Holy shit,” Yeji breathes, “is that-”

“God, it totally _is_ ,” Ryujin says, muffling a surprised laugh. 

The two figures are Jaemin and Donghyuck, and it looks like they’re not just standing close together to talk.

“I guess that answers your question about whether they’re just friends,” Yeji whispers.

“I guess so,” Ryujin says quietly, gripping Yeji’s hand extra tight as she shakes with the effort to stifle her laughter so they don’t alert the boys to their presence. “That means I get a whole week free of the dishes!”

“Hey, congrats,” Yeji says, smiling at the sight of Ryujin trying not to laugh. She likes this much more than when Ryujin is angry, than when she cries.

“Yeah. I’m totally sticking this to Dayoung tomorrow, or maybe day after when she’s not hungover.” Ryujin looks across the lot at Jaemin and Donghyuck a moment longer before she turns around. “Come on,” she says, “let’s head back inside and leave them to their snog-fest.”

Yeji has no complaints there, so she spins on her heel alongside Ryujin and they walk back towards the event barn, giggling quietly to themselves over the absurdity of the situation. 

They return to the party just in time for a slow song to start playing through the speakers, and to Yeji’s surprise, Ryujin continues leading her forward, until they’re all the way back to the dance floor. Once there, Ryujin throws her free arm around Yeji’s shoulders, keeping their joined hands entwined and swaying to the rhythm of the music.

Yeji is taken aback for a moment, before realizing there’s nothing else she’d rather be doing than dancing here with Ryujin, so she lets her free hand settle on Ryujin’s waist, and gets lost in the movement. She meets Ryujin’s eyes and sees a kind of contentment in them that she thinks may very well be visible in her own. She smiles lightly, and Ryujin returns it. 

A strange weightlessness settles over Yeji, seeping down to her bones and making her feel feather-light. 

Yeji thinks she’ll remember this feeling long after the night ends.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

When they leave the venue in the late hours of the night, Ryujin and Yeji’s seats in the car are exactly the same as they’d been before, but for some reason, they feel closer together. They spend the short right back to the hotel wrapped up in each other’s presence, paying little mind to Dayoung’s drunk babbling to Mina, or Donghyuck and Jaemin’s quiet murmuring in the backseat.

It’s as if the world has shrunken down to just the two of them, so when they open the door to their hotel room and wash themselves clean of dried sweat and makeup so they can slip into pajamas and rest after such a long day, it seems only natural that they fall into the same bed together.

Yeji forgets all her panic and apprehension from the morning, and simply enjoys the closeness as Ryujin mumbles sleepily, trying to carry on with their conversation until they both finally fall asleep, bodies curled towards each other.

As Yeji drifts off, she finds that she isn’t scared at all. This, with Ryujin, just feels _right_. 

There’s no reason to be afraid. 

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

In the morning, Yeji wakes to the sight of Ryujin sprawled on her back, starfishing with half her body out from under the covers. Her bright hair paints the white pillows like a work of abstract modern art. Her face is bare, skin splotchy, decorated with red marks from where her cheeks had been pressed into her pillow overnight. 

She’s the most beautiful girl Yeji’s ever seen.

When Yeji rolls out of bed to use the bathroom and brush her teeth, she tries to be careful and quiet, but as she steps back into the room, she finds Ryujin awake anyway. 

“Sorry,” Yeji says, voice low with sleep, “I didn’t mean to wake you up.”

Ryujin sits up in bed, the large, baby blue tee she’d slept in slipping off one shoulder. She blinks at Yeji, trying to gain her bearings. Yeji tries not to die on the spot for how badly she wants to take a picture to immortalize the image of Ryujin looking so impossibly soft like this, right here where only Yeji can see.

“‘S no problem,” Ryujin mumbles after a moment. “‘S still early, though. We could sleep for like another hour.”

Yeji almost says she’s awake enough now that she won’t be able to fall asleep again, but before she can say a word, Ryujin makes grabby hands at her, beckoning her back to the bed. It’s that, paired with the tired, open, _wanting_ look on Ryujin’s face, that makes Yeji realize there’s really no good reason for her not to at least _try_ resting again.

So Yeji swallows her pointless reasoning and walks back to bed, dropping down onto the covers and making herself comfortable once more. “An extra hour of sleep always sounds good, I guess,” she says.

Ryujin smiles, warm in the muted sunlight that seeps through the curtains and bathes the room in a pale golden glow, and Yeji knows she’s made the right choice. 

Despite her giddy, pounding heart, she still drifts off again. The rest is just as welcome as the company. 

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

“Jaemin finally fessed up,” Ryujin says, swinging her arms back and forth as they cross the wood chips spread over the playground. It’s been a few days since the wedding, since they’d accidentally spotted Jaemin and Donghyuck kissing in the orchard. Ryujin seems quite pleased with this turn of events.

“Oh?” Yeji casts her a curious look.

“Yeah. I kept dropping hints that I knew something had happened during the wedding party, and eventually he cracked.”

Yeji laughs, kicking a foot out and scattering a pile of chips. “So what’s their deal?”

“Oh, he was really shady about the whole thing, like he didn’t want to admit to anything I hadn’t already figured out, but they are _together,_ at least.” Ryujin reaches a jungle gym and clambors up.

“Good for them,” Yeji says, “they seem cute together - for guys, you know.”

“Yeah,” Ryujin agrees. “They’re both so weird, but I guess that means they’re perfect for each other.”

“Did you say that to him?” Yeji giggles, climbing up after Ryujin. 

“You bet your bottom dollar I did,” Ryujin nods. 

They dissolve into laughter, conversation tumbling away from them as they bounce from topic to topic as easy as breathing. Some time later, Yeji’s legs begin to ache from being pressed into the metal bars of the jungle gym, sticky with the same summer humidity that makes her hair frizz and stick to the back of her neck even when she ties it up. She says as much, and jumps back down to the ground with enough grace that she’s impressed by herself.

“What’s wrong with climbing down?” Ryujin calls from where she remains perched atop the bars. 

“Jumping’s easier,” Yeji says, straightening up and tilting her head back to look at Ryujin, a foot or so higher than she is. She’s sure the distance between them seems greater from where Ryujin sits. 

“What if you hurt yourself?”

Yeji laughs. “It’s not a long fall, Ryujin. Even if you don’t stick the landing, you’d have to _really_ mess it up if you wanted to get hurt. Come on, you can do it too if you want. See that it’s not all that bad.”

Ryujin looks down at her, unconvinced. 

“Do it for the adrenaline?” Yeji tries. This seems to sway Ryujin a bit, so Yeji pushes forward. “I’ll be right here to catch you, if you want.”

“Promise?” Ryujin asks, inching closer to the edge.

“Promise,” Yeji laughs. “I got you, don’t worry.” She holds out her arms to drive the point home.

“Hwang Yeji, swear to me you’ll catch me if I fall,” Ryujin says, teasing tone almost bordering on serious.

“Shin Ryujin, I swear I will catch you if you fall!”

This, it seems, is all Ryujin needs to hear. She shuffles to the edge of the jungle gym and launches herself off, jumping just like that. She cuts through the air in a streak of pink, and lands cleanly right in front of Yeji, close enough to grab both her arms so she can steady herself. 

“See,” Yeji says, smiling. “You didn’t even fall.”

Ryujin blinks at her, face only inches away. Something flickers in her eyes, some kind of certainty, determination. “I did, though.”

Yeji tilts her head in confusion. Ryujin definitely has two feet firmly planted on the ground in front of her. Unless…

“I fell for you,” Ryujin says, shy smile tugging at her lips.

Yeji stares, taking in the sight of Ryujin bathed in sunlight and looking at her like she’s the only thing in the world. “Good thing I promised to catch you, then,” Yeji says, a little breathless.

Ryujin’s smile widens, and the light in her eyes shines brilliantly. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Yeji nods, smile overwhelming her face as well. “I like you. So much.”

Ryujin’s cheeks dimple. She takes a step closer, so they’re toe to toe. “I like you so much, too.”

Yeji’s face feels impossibly hot, and she knows it has nothing to do with the bright sun overhead. “I would really like to kiss you,” she says.

“It’s like you’re reading my mind,” Ryujin says, happy lilt to her voice. She releases her hold on Yeji’s arms so she can place her hands around Yeji’s neck and tug her closer and closer, until their noses brush. 

Yeji goes slightly cross-eyed trying to keep her focus, but the moment she leans in the rest of the way and presses their lips together, her eyes fall shut and it doesn’t matter anymore. Yeji kisses Ryujin and Ryujin kisses her right back. 

There on the playground, in the sticky summer heat, nothing else matters at all.

( A week later, they laugh themselves to tears when Ryujin finds out that Dayoung had - on top of losing her bet with Ryujin about Jaemin and Donghyuck - lost a second bet with Jaemin about Ryujin and Yeji. Dayoung vows to never place another bet again, elbow deep in dishes at the kitchen sink, and they just laugh harder. )

**Author's Note:**

> well this fic was supposed to be like 5k tops but clearly i got a little carried away lol ~ i had like 2k written by may 31st and thought i could bang the rest out in like a day or two....here i am seven consecutive days of grinding and 10k later, ready for a fat nap. 
> 
> this was my first time writing itzy and it was really fun to just write all about girls and project my big fat crush on ryujin ~ hopefully if you read this far you enjoyed! 
> 
> also i did give ryujin a big family bc i Love those dynamics but also i really do think that she and dayoung and minji (jiu from dreamcatcher) look like they could all be related so if u agree pls let me know i feel like i cant be the only one who sees it
> 
> my [twitter](https://twitter.com/speIIbond)


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